Michigan State University
Miami (Oh)
Spartans Roll Miami, 7-4
1/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 21, 2011
East Lansing, Mich. - Fueled by a 42-save performance from netminder Drew Palmisano and multiple-point efforts from five players, Michigan State knocked off No. 11/12 Miami by a 7-4 score on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 6,823 at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans, who are 4-1-1 in their last six games, are now 10-11-4 on the season, and 6-9-2 in the CCHA; Miami is 13-9-3, 10-7-2-1 in conference play.
Listen to Spartan Sports Podcasts:
Spartans Head Coach Rick | Brett | Dustin | Drew | Miami Head Coach Enrico
Dustin Gazley led the charge with a pair of goals, while Brett Perlini had a pair of helpers and added an empty-net goal at the end. Torey Krug (2a), Greg Wolfe (1g, 1a) and Kevin Walrod (1g, 1a) all had multiple-point efforts.
Miami came out aggressive, and held a 10-1 edge in shots at the midpoint of the opening frame - but it was the Spartans got on the board first, lighting the lamp at 9:50. Torey Krug's rising slapshot from the left point was head-butted by Cody Reichard, and the rebound fell to the left side of the crease. The defender tried to send the puck to the right side and out of harm's way, but Kevin Walrod got his stick blade on it and backhanded it past Reichard's glove hand. The Spartans doubled their lead less than a minute later, as Dean Chelios backhanded a Daultan Leveille pass from behind the net past Reichard at the left post at 10:53. Miami countered at 12:10, when Andy Meile brought the puck to the hashmarks, got the defender to commit, froze the goaltender, and sniped the puck past the blocker-hand of Palmisano.
The Red Hawks tied the game 2:20 into the second period. Palmisano got tied up in a scrum at his right post, leaving him to scramble back into position as Pat Cannone had an empty net to shoot his tenth goal of the season off a pass from Matt Tommassoni .
The Spartans got a prime chance to regain the lead with 1:17 of 5-on-3 about eight minutes into the period . MSU took full advantage, getting their third goal with six minutes remaining in the two-man advantage; freshman Greg Wolfe stuffed home a loose puck at the right post. Dustin Gazley again put the Spartans up by a pair with his goal at 14:47, as he took a cross-ice outlet pass from Brett Perlini and sniped his eighth goal of the season past Reichard. Gazley's tally spelled the end of the evening for the junior, who was relieved by Connor Knapp.
The Spartans started the third period down two men, with Grassi getting whistled for tripping with five seconds remaining in the second, followed by a scrum at the end that found MSU with an extra penalty. MSU's killers did a fantastic time of winding time off the clock, Miami finally broke through with just 20 seconds remaining in the penalties. Carter Camper took a shot from the high slot that Justin Vaive tipped past the screened goalie to pull the visitors within a goal.
The Spartans refused to take their foot off the gas, and kept playing an aggressive brand of hockey that led to their fifth goal at 5:31 of the third.
Anthony Hayes did a nice job of intercepting a pass to turn play the opposite way, and his pass to Walrod was quickly on the stick of Chris Forfar. Forfar came in and put a shot on net, and the rebound went behind the net. Knapp was at the left post, and an opportunistic Forfar raced in front of the net and to the left post, and dragged the rebound from behind the goal line and tucked it at the right post for his first goal of the season. MSU struck again less than a minute later, as Gazley as he tore into the offensive zone at the right point off a feed from Krug. With a defender on his hip, Gazley poked the puck past Knapp five hole, pushing the Spartan lead to 6-3.
Miami wasn't done either - Miele converted a cross-slot pass from Weber at 8:54 to bring the Red Hawks back within two goals. The Spartans, particularly Palmisano, were sharp, and prevented the visitors from pulling any closer. Perlini iced the game with an empty-net power-play tally with 18 seconds remaining.
The teams will meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Munn Ice Arena to close the season series.
NOTES: MSU scored seven goals against Miami, the most the RedHawks had allowed since also allowing seven to Boston College in the NCAA semifinals last spring ... The RedHawks put 46 shots on net, the most surrendered by MSU to an opponent this season ... MSU went 2-for-6 on the power play, and killed off four of five chances by Miami ... Miami's 22 third-period shots were the most surrendered in a single period this season, and also gave Drew Palmisano a new career-best single-period save performance (20) ... MSU has scored 13 times in the third period over its last seven games, more than half its total third-period tallies this season (23) ... The victory snapped a four-game winning streak for Miami at Munn Ice Arena, dating back to the 2007 season ... MSU's seven goals came on just 22 shots ... Michigan State has scored four goals or more in five of its last seven games ... The Spartans had scored just four goals in the previous four starts by Drew Palmisano since Dec. 4, and had four on the board before the end of the second period tonight ... Palmisano had a season-best 42 saves, four shy of his career record of 46 set against Michigan in January of his freshman season. Dean Chelios scored his second goal in three games ... Kevin Walrod has scored three times in the last six games, after scoring his first collegiate tally in his 35th career game ... Freshman Greg Wolfe scored his second career goal, and first since Nov. 19 at Notre Dame. Wolfe has 1-3-4 in his last six games ... Dustin Gazley had his second two-goal game of the season, the other coming against Minnesota on Nov. 26 ... Brett Perlini's empty-net power-play marker was his 15th goal of the season, and gave him a 1-2-3 scoring line in the game ... Torey Krug had a pair of assists, was a +2, and blocked four shots ... Matt Grassi has blocked 12 shots in his last two games combined, and had five tonight ...
